Cushioning device for car truck center bearings



L. B. JONES Aug. 22, 1944.

CUSHIONING DEVICE FOR CAR TRUCK CENTER BEARINGS Original Filed Sept. 27, 1941 parts of the cushioning means; and

Patented Aug. 22, 1944 UNITED sTATEs PATENT .pornos CUSHIONING DEVICE FOR CAR TRUCK` CENTER BEARINGS original applicant september 21,1941, sei-m1 .l N.412,s15, new raten: Nn. 2,322,642, med

June 22, 1943.

Divided and this application Maren 4, 194s, semi No. 477,941

claims. (c1. 2cv-ss),

'I'his invention relates to cushioning means for the center bearings of railway car trucks and the like, the present application being a division of a copending application, Serial No. 412,615, flled by me on 'September 27,' 1941, which has since matured into Patent No. 2,822,642, under date 0f June 22, 1943.

The chief aim of my invention is .to prevent,

more eifectively than possible with means heretoi'ore designed for the purpose, the transmission of high frequency vibrations and noises which may originate in car trucks incident to rapid travel, to the car body through the connecting center bearings.

forth, through provision of a cushioning means which is simple and rugged. which is reliable in its operatiomandi in which laterally adjacent rigid elements confined to contrary vertical movement within a housing between the car body and the truck, cooperate with an` interposed 4 'I'he foregoing advantage I attain in practice, as hereinafter more fully setv resilient element of rubber or the like in such a the above attributes, I further aim to make it` possible, through provision of simple means such Y. as also hereinafter described, to secure the cushioning means to the carbody in such a way as will permit read-y removal thereof when replacements are necessary by reason of disintegration or wear of the parts.

the usual laterally spaced side channels of the center sill of a railway car are indicated at l0 and il, the usual 'plate which connects said channels at their bottoms at I2, and the center pin or king bolt at i3, while the bolster of one of the wheel trucks is partly shown at Il.

The cushioning means withv which the present invention is more especially concerned includes a iiat casing which comprehensively is designated by the numeral il, and, as shown, consists of the two parts designated I8 and i1, respectively. The upper part or section I6 of the casing Il is of rectangularl box-,like configuration with a relatively shallow hollowi, and the lower part I'l is in the form of a plate which loosely fits into said upper part and which has a pendent center swivel boss i9 for engaging a corresponding central recess 20 in the track bolster I4. Housed within the casing Il is a plurality of rigid metallic I1-section elements or pressure bars 2| whereof one is separately illus# trated in perspective in Fig. 3, and whereof the ends slidingly bear against the iront and rear end walls 22 and 22 of the upper part ofthe casing I 5; and a plurality of resilient elements or bars 2l of rubber or the like. whereof one is in turn separately illustrated in Fig. 4. Fromv Figs. 1 and 5 it will be noted that the pressure bars 2| are arranged in two horizontal rows with 80 the bars of one row inverted relative to the bars Other objects and advantages will appear from the following detailed description of the attached drawing, whereof Y v Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view in staggered cross section of the center bearing of a railway car with an incorporated cushioning means conveniently embodying my invention.

-Fig. 2 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section through the axis of the center bearing.

Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views of certain Fig. 5 is'a detail sectional view corresponding Vto'1"ig.1' andV drawn to a larger scale to more Iso of the other group, and with the vertical web of a bar of one group extending into a clearance interval between the head flanges of adjacent bars of the other group. As shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the vertical webs of the pressure bars 2i are roughened or corrugated, while, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4,' the resilient bars 25 'are smoothsurfaced throughout. When assembled as in Fig. l., the upper and lower edges of the cushioning bars 25 bear against the crosswise head ledges of adjacent pressure bars 2i of the two groups. The casing Il which houses thebar pack is removably secured by screw bolts 2B whereof the shanks, together with surrounding sleeves 21, pass through 'aligned apertures respectively in the bottom flanges of the sill channels I0 and il, in the plate i2 and in the' two f casing members It and I1. As shown, the

heads 28 and the nuts", and thereby determine v the extent of initial compression of the resilient bars 25 of the cushioning means.

In the operation of the cushioning means, relative up and down movement will take place between the two groups of rigid bars 2l due to their being backed respectively by the casing members IB and i-'l which-,respectively engage the center sill of the car and the truck bolster Il. As further weight is imposed upon the bearing, the resilient bars 25 will be further compressed and incidentally expanded laterally, so as to be grippedby the contacting roughened side faces of the center webs of adjacent pressure bars 2| oi' the two opposing groups and placed in shear. Accordingly, the resistance offered by the cushioning means varies progressively with the load, so that high frequency vibrations and noises originating in the track are quickly and eiectively absorbed, and thus not communicated to the car body as is ordinarily the case when direct metallic contact exists between the car body and the bolster of the truck.

When, after extensive service, it becomes necessary to replace the resilient bars 25 by reason of wear ,or disintegration, the cushioning means can be readily withdrawn aftr slight lifting of the car body and removal of the center pin I3 and the bolts 28, whereupon the upper part i8 of the casing vcan be' lifted off for accessibility to said bars as well as to the associated rigid bars Preferably the sleeves 2l are rigidly anchored at the lower ends in the bottom part I'l of the casing to retain the pack of the bars 2| and 25 between them.

While in the present instance the bar components of the cushioning means are arranged in the direction of the 'length of the car, they can of course, within the scope of the appended claims, be arranged transversely of the car if this should -be found Vmore desirable or convenlent in practice.

Having thus described my invention, l claim:

1. -Cushioning means for interposltion between the body of a railway car and a truck including a iiat housing casing with a hollow rectangularly recessed component, and a relatively movable cover component slidably fitting into the hollow arranged pressure elements of rigid material with roughened vertical side faces and with lateral ledges respectively at the tops and bottoms of the said side faces and backed respectively by the two housing components; resilient smoothsurfaced plain-section elements of rubber or the like disposed between the roughened vside surfaces of contiguous pressure elements oi' the two groups, with their upper and lower edges overlapped respectively by and engaging the ledges of the contiguous Ipressure components and normally contacting laterally with the high spots only of said roughened surfaces. whereby incident to movement of the two groups toward each other'under load, the resilient elements are compressed and through lateral expansion thereof gripped by the opposing roughened surfaces of said pressure elements and placed in shear; and means for securing the housing to the center sill .of the car.

form of straight bars: and in which the ends of said pressure elements slidably engage opposite walls of the hollow component of the casing. 4. The inventlonaccording to claim 1, in which the pressure and resilient elements are in the form of straight bars, lying in the direction oi' the length of the car Iwith the ends of said pressure elements slidably engaging opposite walls of the hollow component of the casing.-

5. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the securing means comprises a plurality of component; two horizontal groups of reversely screw bolts which pass through the housing and the cover; nuts associated with the screws; and means for limiting the distance to which the housing and its cover are forced toward each other when the nuts are drawn up to determine the degree of initial compression of the resilient elements.

- Y LLOYD B. JONES. 

